1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device to facilitate installation of a wiring harness in an automotive vehicle without damaging the wiring harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automotive vehicles continue to have increasingly complex arrays of wiring harnesses to deliver electric power from power sources in a vehicle to control circuitry and from the control circuitry to a wide range of electrically powered components in the vehicle. The typical wiring harness has an array of wires bundled together. The wires of a wiring harness may be held in the bundled array by wire ties, tape or sections of corrugated tubing. Each wire typically extends to a terminal fitting and plural terminal fittings typically are mounted into electrical connectors that are configured to mate with other electrical connectors.
The electric power sources typically are disposed in a part of the vehicle that is outside the passenger compartment of the vehicle, such as in the engine compartment. Many of the electrically powered components of the vehicle are within the passenger compartment or have controls within the passenger compartment. As a result, wiring harnesses, including the wires and the connectors mounted to the ends of the wires, often must pass through the vehicular panels that separate the passenger compartment from the engine compartment or trunk of the vehicle. The panels that separate the passenger compartment from the engine compartment or trunk are formed with apertures to accommodate the passage of the wiring harnesses. Grommets typically are mounted around the section of the wiring harness that passes through the panel in the vehicle. Outer peripheral regions of the grommets engage the periphery of the aperture in the panel to provide weatherproofing between the passenger compartment and the engine compartment or trunk of the vehicle.
The space available in an automotive vehicle is extremely limited in view of the large number of components that compete for the available space. As a result, the space available for routing a wiring harness through a vehicle is very limited and often is dictated by the space requirements of mechanical components of the vehicle that are less flexible than the wiring harness. The space restrictions in a vehicle often determined the size of the opening in a panel through which a wiring harness must pass. The placement of a wiring harness in a vehicle typically is carried out manually by workers who may not have convenient access to the required locations. As a result, passing the relatively flexible wiring harness and the connectors through a small poorly accessible opening in a panel can be difficult. The panels through which a wiring harness must pass typically are made of metal and the apertures in the panel typically have sharp edges. The wires of the wiring harness, on the other hand, typically have a thin layer of insulating coating surrounding a conductive core. The coating is intended to avoid short-circuits and to prevent moisture from affecting the conductive core. However, inserting the wiring harness through a small hole in a vehicular panel creates the potential for damage to the insulating coating on the respective wires of the wiring harness. The connectors at the ends of the wires of the wiring harness typically have cross-sectional areas that exceed the cross-sectional area of the wire bundle. Thus the connectors easily are caught on the panel and particularly on a burring projection that generally surrounds the aperture in the panel.
The manufacturers of wiring harnesses and the workers who assemble the wiring harness into a vehicle have been aware of the potential for damage to the wires of a wiring harness as the wiring harness is being passed through an aperture in a vehicular panel. As a result, the manufacturers of wiring harnesses often ship the wiring harness to the automobile assembly site with a textile sheet that has a hook and loop fastening arrangement. The assembly workers mount the textile sheet around the part of the wiring harness that is to be passed through the aperture in the panel. These textile sheets are returned periodically to the wiring harness manufacturer. The textile sheets then are laundered and used again with another wiring harness. The textile sheets generally work well if mounted properly on the wiring harness. However, the textile sheet can be moved or disengaged during the mounting process. Furthermore, the collection, return and laundering of the used textile sheets complicates the already complex manufacturing procedures and there are corresponding cost increases.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive and easily used device for passing a wiring harness through a panel in a vehicle without a risk of damage to the insulating coating on the wires of the wiring harness.